DONALD Trump encouraged his personal lawyer to break the law by paying hush money to adult film actress and former Playboy model, Stormy Daniels, before the 2016 election, a New York court heard on Tuesday.

In an extraordinary account, Michael Cohen confessed he flouted campaign finance laws “in coordination with and at the direction of” President Trump.

The 51-year-old lawyer admitted his part in attempting to influence the outcome of the presidential election.

Mr Cohen claimed he acted under “the request of the candidate” and added: “I participated in the conduct for the purposes of influencing the election.”

Lanny Davis, Mr Cohen’s attorney, said in a statement: “Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election.

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Mr Cohen, who was part of President Trump’s inner circle for decades, confessed the payments were made "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office”, implying President Trump.

The lawyer pleaded guilty to five counts of tax fraud, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of wilfully causing an unlawful corporate campaign contribution and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution.

His guilty plea reportedly did not involve a commitment to cooperate with Robert Mueller, the Special Counsel probing President Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia during the election campaign.

President Trump has branded the independent probe by Mr Mueller into alleged links between his campaign and Russia as a “witch hunt”.

Deputy US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Robert Khuzami speaks to the media (Image: GETTY)

Speaking to Reuters, the US leader did not reveal if he was considering revoking Mr Mueller’s security clearance in the same way he has done for former CIA chief John Brennan.

He said: “I haven’t given it a lot of thought.”

The US President also did not disclose whether he would agree to be questioned by Mr Mueller, but insisted he could take control of the probe if he wanted to.

He said: “I can go in, and I could do whatever — I could run it if I want.

“But I decided to stay out. I’m totally allowed to be involved if I wanted to be. So far, I haven’t chosen to be involved. I’ll stay out.”